The invention relates to instructions for installing and changing systems, and in particular to the generation of instructions for installing and changing or upgrading systems.
Computer systems are made up of multiple components which a customer may be required to assemble. Sometimes, a customer may desire to expand a computer system, and may be required to add components. The assembly or addition of components usually requires the placing of components in the correct physical position relative to other components and the cabling of the components together. It can be a complex task depending on the number of components making up the computer system.
Prior computer systems have been shipped to customers with instruction manuals for installation and upgrade. The instruction manuals may provide instructions for most of the components of a basic system, and may make reference to further instruction manuals relating to still more components. An example may be seen by looking at personal computers, where one component is the personal computer box containing a system board and a card for interfacing to a monitor. Another component is the monitor, and the customer is required to connect a cable between the monitor and the computer box. If the customer orders a disk drive device, a separate instruction manual may be needed, or a section in the manual for the computer box must be found in order to determine how to install the disk drive. The disk drive may consist of two components, such as a controller card and the drive itself. There may also be a need to set switches in both the system board and the controller card, with the switch setting being dependent on the rest of the components of the system and size of the drive. This procedure can be quite confusing when multiple options must be installed, or replacement components are required. A customer must search for the appropriate manual to determine how to install the option.
New computer systems in the mid range are much more complex to install than the simple example given above. The system may be made up of one or more racks into which a large variety of cards and devices are installed. The number of options available to customers in ordering such systems is so great that no two systems ordered may look alike, and be installable in the same manner. The use of a generic installation guide is not feasible. If an installation guide set forth instructions in order for one such system, installation of another, different system would cause skipping back and forth between sections of the guide during installation. Further, the guide would be extremely large if it provided sufficient detail for one to successfully install all possible varieties of system.